Stewart, other area airports lag nation in on-time arrivals

STEWART AIRPORT — On-time performance by airlines at Stewart International Airport and five competitors was mediocre for the most part during November.

BY Michael Randall

STEWART AIRPORT — On-time performance by airlines at Stewart International Airport and five competitors was mediocre for the most part during November.

The monthly Air Travel Consumer Report issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation said Stewart's arriving flights were on time 76.8 percent of the time in November.

That put Stewart in fifth place, less than six percentage points behind the leader, Albany International Airport, where arrivals were on time 82.4 percent of the time. Albany also led in on-time departures, with 87 percent of flights leaving on time.

Stewart also was fifth in departures with 81.2 percent of its flights leaving on time.

Three other airports — Kennedy, La Guardia and Westchester County — were all less than 1 percentage point ahead of Stewart.

Newark Liberty International Airport once again brought up the rear in both categories, with 75.7 percent of arrivals and 74.8 percent of departures on time.

Nationally, 85.73 percent of arrivals and 85.44 percent of departures were on time in November.

Industry standards say a flight is on time if it arrives or departs less than 15 minutes past the scheduled time.

Weather was a relatively minor factor in November, responsible for 77 minutes worth of delays on Stewart flights.

Air carrier delays, which can include baggage loading, aircraft cleaning, maintenance and fueling, were responsible for the lion's share of delays at Stewart — more than eight hours. Aircraft that were late because they had been late completing a previous flight were blamed for just under 90 minutes' worth of delays.

There were no extreme weather events such as blizzards, hurricanes or tornadoes, that affected Stewart flights.